Cheap Eats 2014: Japanese Food

The menu hanging from the wall of Micah Camden’s Boxer
Ramen is only six lines long, but six lines prove sufficient. Of these,
the sesame greens appetizer ($4) might be my favorite thing on the menu,
with Swiss chard sliced into pencil-width ribbons and sopped in nutty,
rich sesame oil and rice-wine vinegar, then topped with shiitake
mushrooms, oyster sauce and toasted sesame seeds. And among the three
ramen bowls with noodles from Sun Noodle Company (all $10), your first
choice should be the vegetarian spicy miso bowl—which lives up to its
name—a rich, coconut-intense white curry sauce with strips of fibrous
inari sweet tofu. Selectivity is important here, because you can’t
over-order: If you don’t finish your meal, you aren’t allowed to box it
up and take it home.MARTIN CIZMAR.

Since first popping up a few years ago as an Americanized
take on the traditional ramen house—signature miso Twinkie completing
the circle with an imagined Eastern interpretation of workaday
Westernism. Boke Bowl’s chicly utilitarian space has swarmed with
devotees assembling personalized variations on the noodle, by adding
savory treats like pork belly ($4) or a surprisingly sumptuous poached
egg ($2) to rich broths steeped in pulled pork ($10) or caramelized
fennel ($9). While the resulting bowls (or less-fungible favorites, such
as a salad of Brussels sprouts and house-crafted tofu served warm with
tangy Thai vinaigrette, $10) might not appear the cheapest of eats, the
impossibly hearty servings should last you more than one meal. JAY HORTON.

Sending huge plumes of smoke into the air of Northeast
Sandy Boulevard like the most delicious smelting plant in the world,
Du’s does teriyaki better than perhaps any place in town, serving up
charred hunks of chicken, pork and beef in gigantic mounds that could
feed an army. Few accoutrements are necessary, but don’t skimp on the
housemade ginger-garlic sauce that perfectly complements both the meats
and the side salad. A two-meat combo will run you a scant $9.25-$9.95,
and will live on as leftovers as long as the delicious smell from the
charring meats lives in your jacket—which is a while. AP KRYZA.

Once a down-at-the-heels Japanese lounge and karaoke gem,
the space formerly known as Bush Garden has been transformed into what
looks like a combination dojo and romper room (witness the dry
waterfall, now bedecked with plush characters from My Neighbor Totoro).
But it is fundamentally a stew line. Stand at the counter and pick from
three versions—beef, chicken ($6.95) or veggie ($6.45)—of the sweet
brown curry Tokyo families eat as regularly as Middle America consumes
tuna casserole. The coziness factor is roughly equivalent—which is to
say, unparalleled in Portland. AARON MESH.

The descriptions on Miho Izakaya’s menu might be spare,
but don’t let that fool you. A $4 item simply called “greens and tofu”
turns out to be a generous bowl of braised kale and fried tofu singing
with hot chilies, aged miso and sake. Togarashi seared salmon ($8) comes
plated atop a bed of arugula and mustard, with carefully sliced avocado
and a ribbon of pretty red roe on top. These are beautifully varied
dishes at an impressively low price point, ranging from pickled
vegetables for $2 to steak for $12, with plenty of options in the
middle. Housed inside a cheery yellow bungalow across from the MAX
tracks and the Alibi’s retina-singing neon, Miho also gains points for
its swift service and clever cocktails, which incorporate lots of
shochu, citrus and plum. REBECCA JACOBSON.

Hapa is not yet a rival for Shigezo, Biwa or Yuzu, but it
warmed me right up with a fusion of Japanese and Hawaiian ramen made
with frozen noodles ordered from the islands. The best dish is the shaka
bowl ($7.50). In fast-paced Japan, shaka is served in two parts, so
diners don’t have to wait for their soup’s broth to cool before
slurping. At Hapa, the noodles come cold, topped with a halved
soft-boiled egg and green onions. There’s also a dip cup—filled with a
substance that’s not quite broth, not quite sauce—that’s thick, goopy
and obscenely rich thanks to pork belly and shiitake mushrooms. Each
forkful is an uppercut of umami. MARTIN CIZMAR.